Since 2007 Libros Para Los Niños has worked to provide the best possible education for children in the poorest areas of the Dominican Republic and to furnish the educational tools to make this possible. It is our belief that an education is the most important gift that can be given a child and the one gift that can never be taken away. Libros Para Los Niños has worked with over twenty schools in the Dominican Republic and in 2017 began working with six schools in Haiti.
Each yearEpiscopal schools submit requests to Libros for scholastic materials, equipment and supplies. Libros evaluates these requests as to their need, and what Libros can provide. Virtually any materials that help teachers educate their students are purchased by Libros. To date the Libros team has taken approximately two tons of Spanish language books and school supplies to the Dominican Republic. In addition the Libros team has supplied computers, printers, copy machines, student desks and chairs, chalk boards, audiovisual equipment and scholarships. One hundred percent of all funds raised, including grants, donations and sales, go directly to the support of Episcopal schools and their students.
Over the past twelve years Libros Para Los Niños has developed several areas of concentration, one of which is to supply food staples for breakfast and lunch programs in albergues. An albergue is basically a protected place — a refuge, or shelter. In the Dominican Republic an albergue is located in a poverty-stricken area. It serves as a preschool, kindergarten and an early primary grade school. Albergues not only provide an academic education but a moral one as well. Many of the children, who attend an albergue, come from homes rife with drug and alcohol abuse and sadly some are physically abused. Family values must be taught to children who may otherwise be lost to an undesirable cycle of life. The albergues Infantil Cristo Salvador in Santiago, Buen Samaritano in San Francisco de Marocís, Jesús Peregrino in Barahona, and San Pablo Apóstol in Jimaní have become a focus as the needs and poverty in these areas are extreme.
Another area of Libros specialization is the funding and equipping of science laboratories. For a high school to be accredited in the Dominican Republic it must have a science lab. It generally takes 3 years to complete a science lab project. The first year we go to the school to evaluate what is needed for the project. Do they have a room that can be allocated for a laboratory, does the school have a teacher that can teach science classes, and what preparatory work needs to be done. Year two, we purchase equipment and supplies needed to get the laboratory in operating order. Year three, we return to the school to inspect the laboratory to make sure that it is up and running properly and purchase any extra equipment needed. The Libros team has funded science labs in Colegio La Transfiguración inBaní, Colegio Monte de la Transfiguración in Jarabacoa, Colegio San Pablo Apóstol in Jimaní, and Colegio La Anunciación in Santiago as well as École Saint Esprit in Lascohobas, Haiti.
It is said in the Book of Common Prayer, “Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith: Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” The children and the schools that we serve are our neighbors and we do love them as we do ourselves. Libros Para Los Niños wants the best possible education for these children and we want them to know that there are people in the world that love them enough to provide opportunities for them to succeed. This is done for the children in the Dominican Republic and Haiti in the name and love of God.
The Libros Para Los Niños Traveling Team: Julie Wever, Sandy Trombley, Bobbi Perez, Wendy Susi, Sue Armstrong and Jan Bedoukian
